Colorado Mesa University Assistant Professor of Archaeology John Seebach, PhD, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Barry Michrina Memorial Lecture series on Wednesday, February 23. Seebach has spent years working to uncover the complicated and emotional history of Indigenous boarding schools across North America by studying a former institution that is close to home. In the early 1900s, tens of thousands of Native American children were relocated to boarding schools with the intent to assimilate the children into dominant Euro-American society. The Teller Institute in Grand Junction was one of these boarding schools. Seebach’s lecture, “Forgetting to Remember: Grand Junction’s Indian Boarding School (1886-2022)” will discuss why the Grand Junction site was forgotten after its closure and why the memory of the campus in even more jeopardy today. Archival and historic documents show us the influence small decisions can have on cultural memory in the long term.
The Barry Michrina Memorial Fund brings a guest speaker to Colorado Mesa University each year who focuses on topics related to Michrina's diverse interests. In addition to the lecture, a scholarship is awarded every spring to a student with Native American ancestry.
“The Barry Michrina Memorial Lectures and the Barry Michrina Scholarship were established to honor Dr. Michrina’s commitment to Native American cultures. The lectures draw together campus and local community to not only remember the life of our esteemed colleague but also to reveal the importance of anthropology and archeology to the lifeblood of the university,” said CMU Associate Professor of History Vincent Patarino Jr., PhD, who is also the Barry Michrina Memorial Committee Chair.
The event is an open and free to the public. Refreshments will be available when the doors open at 6:30pm and the lecture will begin at 7pm in the Meyer Ballroom on the second floor of the University Center.
Sponsors include the SBS Barry Michrina Memorial Committee; CMU Barry Michrina Memorial Fund; Dept. of SBS; CMU Civic Forum.